Nasty Idle Question

[Colin <cwass99@home.com>]

Hi,
     I'm quite new to this list, but I searched the archive using every
combination of words that seemed to fit and had no good hits. 
First the car:

87 8v just over 200k
head completely rebuilt, polished and decked
stock cam
4 into 1 header (Pacesetter)
2" piping all the way back, through a high-flow cat and Dynomax muffler
K&N Filter
expanded inlet (no swiss cheese, though)
stock throttlebody
less than 5k on the valve timing belt
air conditioner
timing about 8 degrees BTDC

The problem:

     When it first starts on a relatively warm day, it idles like a 20 year old
Ford.  After it warms up for a few minutes, it smooths out and is good.  On
cooler days (like we've been seeing up here recently) it starts not bad, but
the idle goes lousy again after a couple minutes until the engine gets up
towards normal operating temperature.  Yes I put the O2 sensor in, and it's
fairly new.  Can't find any intermittent vacuum leaks and the header and
manifold are snug with good gaskets.

     My question is...is the lousy idle when cold something I have to live
with, or can I smooth it out, even a little?  I expected it to roughen out a
bit with the head and exhaust, but it's really severe.  The idle bobs between
less than 100 and about 500 (it could be worse, I've got the warm, smooth idle
at 1100).  I think it should be something I can resolve, but I'm out of ideas
on what to poke at next.  Maybe the fuel pump?  I replaced the filter about 2
months ago and that didn't help.

     There's more about the car (you don't want to know how much I hate
balljoints...) including suspension and such, but that doesn't really apply to
the question at hand.  Thanks for any responses.

Cheers,
Colin


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